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    Degrading Overclock

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by zarzak, Aug 4, 2010.

  1. zarzak

    zarzak Notebook Consultant

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    I've had my m11x for about a month, and have noticed that its ability to overclock has steadily degraded. When I got it I could safely overclock to 164, but now I seem to be down to 158. Is this normal? Anyone else experience this?
     
    zarzak, Aug 4, 2010
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  2. corwinicre

    corwinicre Notebook Deity

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    Are you sure it was stable before? I.e., did you test it well initially?
     
    corwinicre, Aug 4, 2010
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  3. mobiousblack

    mobiousblack Notebook Deity

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    I am not sure about the M11x but what I can say from experience with over-clocking, every cpu is different even if they are the same model. For example my i7 965 is still stable at 4.0ghz after a year or so while my friend had to bring it down to 3.8ghz after a month of use.
     
    mobiousblack, Aug 5, 2010
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  4. kent1146

    kent1146 Notebook Prophet

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    It is not something that is unexpected. The most likely reasons were:

    1) As Corwinicre mentioned, your previous 164Mhz overclock may not have been stable to begin with. You may just be starting to see crashes and failures from an unstable overclock, just as a coincidence of timing.

    2) Your cooling system may be degrading. As cooling systems get used, they will start to accumulate things like dust, hair, pet hair, ashes, etc. That reduces the effectiveness of the cooling system, and therefore reduces the ability to get rid of heat from the CPU. Try cleaning out your cooling system by opening the bottom panel from your laptop, and blowing compressed air so that dust gets blown *OUT* of your system (not back IN).
     
    kent1146, Aug 5, 2010
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